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Friday, August 08, 2014

One of three statewide advisories Illinois voters will be asked on the November ballot is:

"Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to require that each school district receive additional revenue, based on their number of students, from an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars?"

It's a question the Illinois General Assembly and the governor decided would be a good thing to ask voters. Friday, Forbes made the question an issue, agreeing with what Republicans have been saying for weeks - this advisory referendum is meaningless and a maneuver to get Democrats to the polls. Forbes writes first about the confusing wording:

Instead, as predicted by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, the language will provide no substantive or reliable insight into assessing how voters truly feel about taxes or education funding. Per the Tax Foundation: “As can be readily seen from the ballot question, any results will be of very little use to policymakers. The structure of the question leaves unclear exactly what is being asked: is it asking voters to endorse a new tax, given that the revenues are distributed to schools? Or is it asking voters to endorse the revenue distribution proposed, given a new tax? Or is it asking two separate questions about revenue distribution and taxes?”

It's all about wealth envy and class warfare, Forbes says - the two main themes Illinois Democrats are already using in campaigns -

However one chooses to interpret the referendum, this op-ed by Matthew Glans of the Heartland Institute provides voters with useful insight into short-sighted policies that attempt to address budget crises by imposing penalties on successful workers and entrepreneurs. According to Glans, “Illinois need only look to Maryland to see the results of such a tax: That state found that by the year after its millionaire tax was passed, instead of new revenue, one-third of the state’s millionaires disappeared.”

Unfortunately, Governor Quinn has revealed a startling lack of respect for Illinois voters with this politically motivated maneuver that confuses the issue and fuels a useless and destructive class-warfare sentiment. Illinois voters would do well to call the governor out on his disingenuous antics.

In other words, this is just more embarrassing news from America's flyover country.

Comments

One of three statewide advisories Illinois voters will be asked on the November ballot is:

"Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to require that each school district receive additional revenue, based on their number of students, from an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars?"

It's a question the Illinois General Assembly and the governor decided would be a good thing to ask voters. Friday, Forbes made the question an issue, agreeing with what Republicans have been saying for weeks - this advisory referendum is meaningless and a maneuver to get Democrats to the polls. Forbes writes first about the confusing wording: